New Zealand entered the Games as a serious threat for gold after winning the first two stops of the 2024 Track Nations Cup. They looked like they were riding with minimum effort and easily qualified with the top time of 4:40.679.
Despite the top qualifying time, New Zealand's Bryony Botha knows the team has to be prepared for anything on Wednesday.
"We had a lot of confidence in the Nations Cup," she said. "But one thing I learned from the Olympics last time I was here (Tokyo 2020) is you never know what to expect. There are always teams that come out of nowhere."
The United States has never finished off the podium in the women’s team pursuit. The squad that featured road race gold medalist Kristen Faulkner, time trials bronze medalist Chloe Dygert, Jennifer Valente and Lily Williams secured the second best qualifying time of 4:05.238.
Despite a messy-looking start, the U.S. squad finished the first 250m 0.03 faster than New Zealand.
Dygert led the final two laps of the race for the Americans. The 27-year-old has had an adventurous Olympic Games after crashing in the women’s road race and finishing third in the women’s road time trials after overcoming a tire puncture. Dygert was seen with a bandage on her face after needing stitches on her chin from the road race crash. She led the Americans to a national record of 4:05.238, good for the second-best qualifying time behind New Zealand.
Defending Olympic champion Germany had the most surprising race of the day, and it wasn’t in a good way. Germany finished with the fifth-fastest time of the round. The Germans had a good start but quickly fell behind and clearly tired near the end. They finished with a time of 4:08.313 and won’t have an opportunity to contend for a gold medal in Paris.
Great Britain was knocked off the top spot of the podium in Tokyo but was still a favorite to contend for the gold medal in Paris. The Brits, the penultimate racers of the round, continued the trend of national records, but finished third with a time of 4:06.710.
Canada’s race saw some confusion when the team was forced to do an extra lap around the velodrome after race officials miscounted the laps. Canada still qualified in the final spot to advance, based on the correct number of laps.
Australia’s veteran Georgia Baker saved the race for the Aussies, when she led her team from nearly half a second behind to the front of the pack. The Aussies were behind the lead pace after a wheel slip almost ended their race, but in the end the Aussies set a new Australian national record at 4:08.612.
"The conditions are super fast, especially for team pursuit," Baker said. "It's also about the shape of this track. This velodrome is beautiful. It's a big bowl."
France rose to the occasion in front of the loud, cheering crowd. France, Ireland and Japan all set national records. Unfortunately for Ireland and Japan, their times still weren't fast enough to advance.
Overall, it was a fast day on the track, with eight of 10 countries racing setting a national record. The first round races will start at 7:52 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
First round matchups:
New Zealand vs. Italy
United States vs. Great Britain
Germany vs. Canada
Australia vs. France